Horizon K-8 School to showcase EVs this weekend

The DEVC monthly meeting will be at Horizons K-8 School, 4545 Sioux Drive, Boulder, CO. on May 6th from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM. The School EV Club will have their projects on display and invite those with EV’s to join them for an EV show. This is a great way to get youngsters involved with EVs, so they would love to have your EV there on display. 

Earth Day was chilly but we had cars!

The Sustain-A-Fest started out cold but got warmer as the day went on. Our club had a Spark EV, a Leaf, a BMW i3 and a few Teslas. John Duprey showed his selection of electric bikes. Thanks to everyone who attended please visit the event page for the photos.

New member Michelle Popejoy, our first Ford EV!

Our latest member, Michelle Popejoy, has a 2014 Ford Focus Electric and charges from Colorado Springs. Please make her welcome when you see her!

Excellent information about EV battery degradation

I found a great video that discusses Tesla battery degradation here. It uses information gathered from Tesla owners of years of ownership, and you'll be pleasantly surprised as to the lifespan of the Tesla battery (Cliff Notes version: 7% degradation was observed even after 100,000 miles).

-Wilson H.

Check out the Events and Calendar page!

Just in case you haven't visited our Events and Calendar page lately, it's getting pretty full with car show news as we get it. You'll have a show to attend almost every weekend this year until October, so make sure you check it out as often as you can. I consider it one of the most useful things we do here at the CSEVC!
-Wilson Hitchings
CSEVC Website Admin

PPIR run for your car

Hi Wilson,

At the last CSEVC meeting, I mentioned the upcoming local autox. Registration and more info for the May 21st event is now available here:

http://www.ppscc.net/smf/index.php?topic=1067

PPSCC autocrosses are designed to be fun and are great for beginners. It is happening at Pikes Peak Raceway just south of the Spring. Any car can run (though I'm not sure about the Model X SUV). People just need to clean the loose stuff out of them. Loaner helmets are available at the event.

I think the EV club members might have a good time tossing their cars through the cones with all the torque available from 0. Let me know if I can provide any other info.

Thanks,

Jeff Schmoyer

Member #84

Anticpated Model 3 upgrades

David McNeil sent me an article about the anticipated Tesla Model 3 upgrades and costs, it's quite interesting. View it here.

Sustain-A-Fest (April 22) has LOTS of room!

CSEVC Founder, Mac McCauley, and myself, visited the Sustain-A-Fest location on N. El Paso St. in Colorado Springs this week and discovered that it appears we have plenty of room for whomever wants to exhibit their cars. If the organization gives us the room they've planned on, anyone and everyone can come on down!

Please visit our Sustain-A-Fest Event Page for specific details and a map. The event is on April 22.

I'm getting confirmation that we will have the space allotted, but it looks like it's open season on showing your car. I'll send out a final invitation with firm information this week. If you haven't planned on showing your car (the weather looks GREAT this weekend in Colorado Springs), please think about it.

-Wilson Hitchings

New Chevy Bolt seen at the Denver Auto Show

I worked a booth at the Denver Auto Show this Sunday, April 9, and saw only three EVs, a Leaf an i3 and the new Chevy Bolt. Enjoy!
-Wilson H.

Sign of the times? Solar panels power Kentucky Coal Museum

Update at Apr 6, 2017

By: ADAM BEAM

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Don't look to the Kentucky Coal Museum to bring coal back.

The museum is installing solar panels on its roof, part of a project aimed at lowering the energy costs of one of the city's largest electric customers. It's also a symbol of the state's efforts to move away from coal as its primary energy source as more coal-fired power plants are replaced by natural gas. The state legislature recently lifted its decades-old ban on nuclear power.

"It's a little ironic or coincidental that you are putting solar green energy on a coal museum," said Roger Noe, a former state representative who sponsored the legislation that created the coal museum. "Coal comes from nature, the sun rays come from nature so it all works out to be a positive thing."

The museum is in Benham, once a coal camp town whose population peaked at about 3,000, according to 85-year-old Mayor Wanda Humphrey. Today, it has about 500 people, and Humphrey says she is the mayor because no one else wants the job.

"It takes our entire police force - we have one person, we have Ryan - to get me in the building and back out," she said.

The town's second building was a company commissary known as the "big store," where Humphrey would visit every day after school to order an RC Cola and a bag of peanuts, charged to her father's account. Today, that building houses the Kentucky Coal Museum, which opened in 1994 with the help of some state funding. The museum houses relics from the state's coal mining past, including some items from the personal collection of "Coal Miner's Daughter" country singer Loretta Lynn.

It's also the best place in town to get the most direct sunlight, which made it an ideal location for solar panels.

"The people here are sort of in awe of this solar thing," Humphrey said.

The Southeast Community and Technical College, which owns the museum, expects the solar panels to save between $8,000 and $10,000 a year on energy costs, according to spokesman Brandon Robinson.

Tentative Club Meeting - May 13, Saturday

We're looking for a venue for a tentative club meeting on May 13. Most likely a popular topic will be the upcoming Tesla trip to Custer, SD. Stay tuned.

Has the tipping point been reached?

The most valuable US auto maker is now: https://chargedevs.com/newswire/as-teslas-q1-deliveries-set-a-new-record-its-now-the-most-valuable-us-automaker/